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Fed up with the snail’s pace at which the federal government is moving to set standards on PFAS, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer ordered the Department of Environmental Quality to begin the regulatory process for establishing drinking water standards for PFAS. Polyfluoroalkyl and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a group of man-made chemicals that includes PFOA and PFOS used in many everyday products since the early 1900’s. PFAS can be found in Teflon-coated cookware products and military firefighting foam.
Fed up with the snail’s pace at which the federal government is moving to set standards on PFAS, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer ordered the Department of Environmental Quality to begin the regulatory process for establishing drinking water standards for PFAS. Polyfluoroalkyl and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a group of man-made chemicals that includes PFOA and PFOS used in many everyday products since the early 1900’s. PFAS can be found in Teflon-coated cookware products and military firefighting foam.
At the time of this writing, a number of other states are working on drafting enforceable regulations for PFAS including New York, New Hampshire, and Pennsylvania.
Minimal Effort from the Federal Government
In 2018, the Trump administration decided to not set a drinking water limit for PFOA and PFOS—the chemicals that are contaminating the drinking water of millions of Americans and that cause a number of medical issues including terminal illnesses. The decision by Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) means the toxic chemicals will remain unregulated under the Safe Drinking Water Act, and water companies will continue to have no federal requirements or guidelines for testing drinking water for the toxins or for removing PFAS from drinking water supplies. When it became clear the federal government would be making no effort to protect Americans from dangerous drinking water, some states took their own steps to remedy this crisis.
At the current time, the EPA has an unenforceable advisory level of 70 parts per trillion (ppt) for PFOS and PFOA, but that number has been criticized for being way too low. The EPA says it will decide later in late 2019 whether to establish a national drinking water standard for PFAS compounds. Governor Whitmer stated recently that the state of Michigan can no longer wait for the Trump Administration to act on protecting the drinking water of its residents.
Timeline of Safe Water Goals for Michigan
The Michigan team in charge of working on setting safe drinking water standards is known as “MPART” (Michigan PFAS Action Response Team) and will form a science advisory workgroup to review existing and proposed drinking water standards from around the United States. MPART’s goal is to establish maximum contaminant levels (MCL’s) for PFAS compounds that public water companies would be required to comply with under the Safe Drinking Water Act. By July 1, 2019, MPART will present “public health goals” for PFAS, and the proposed regulations should be ready to roll by October 1 of this year at which time they will go through a state rule-making process.
Studies show that PFAS can lead to adverse health effects including reproductive and developmental problems, liver and kidney issues, and adverse immunological effects. PFAS have been shown to:
- Lead to low infant birth weights
- Compromise the immune system
- Cause cancer
- Disrupt thyroid function
- Affect growth, learning, and behavior of infants and older children
- Lower a woman’s chance of getting pregnant
While more research is needed to show exactly how PFAS chemicals adversely affect the health of humans, there’s enough information out there to prompt states to take action to protect residents from drinking water laced with dangerous chemicals. It will be interesting to see which states will follow suit and set their own standards for PFAS in drinking water like New Hampshire and Michigan.
ordered the Department of Environmental Quality to begin the regulatory process for establishing drinking water standards for PFAS. Polyfluoroalkyl and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a group of man-made chemicals that includes PFOA and PFOS used in many everyday products since the early 1900’s. PFAS can be found in Teflon-coated cookware products and military firefighting foam.
At the time of this writing, a number of other states are working on drafting enforceable regulations for PFAS including New York, New Hampshire, and Pennsylvania.
Minimal Effort from the Federal Government
In 2018, the Trump administration decided to not set a drinking water limit for PFOA and PFOS—the chemicals that are contaminating the drinking water of millions of Americans and that cause a number of medical issues including terminal illnesses. The decision by Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) means the toxic chemicals will remain unregulated under the Safe Drinking Water Act, and water companies will continue to have no federal requirements or guidelines for testing drinking water for the toxins or for removing PFAS from drinking water supplies. When it became clear the federal government would be making no effort to protect Americans from dangerous drinking water, some states took their own steps to remedy this crisis.
At the current time, the EPA has an unenforceable advisory level of 70 parts per trillion (ppt) for PFOS and PFOA, but that number has been criticized for being way too low. The EPA says it will decide later in late 2019 whether to establish a national drinking water standard for PFAS compounds. Governor Whitmer stated recently that the state of Michigan can no longer wait for the Trump Administration to act on protecting the drinking water of its residents.
Timeline of Safe Water Goals for Michigan
The Michigan team in charge of working on setting safe drinking water standards is known as “MPART” (Michigan PFAS Action Response Team) and will form a science advisory workgroup to review existing and proposed drinking water standards from around the United States. MPART’s goal is to establish maximum contaminant levels (MCL’s) for PFAS compounds that public water companies would be required to comply with under the Safe Drinking Water Act. By July 1, 2019, MPART will present “public health goals” for PFAS, and the proposed regulations should be ready to roll by October 1 of this year at which time they will go through a state rule-making process.
Studies show that PFAS can lead to adverse health effects including reproductive and developmental problems, liver and kidney issues, and adverse immunological effects. PFAS have been shown to:
- Lead to low infant birth weights
- Compromise the immune system
- Cause cancer
- Disrupt thyroid function
- Affect growth, learning, and behavior of infants and older children
- Lower a woman’s chance of getting pregnant
While more research is needed to show exactly how PFAS chemicals adversely affect the health of humans, there’s enough information out there to prompt states to take action to protect residents from drinking water laced with dangerous chemicals. It will be interesting to see which states will follow suit and set their own standards for PFAS in drinking water like New Hampshire and Michigan.
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